Ludwig Feuerbach, at the start of his important treatise The Essence of Christianity, narrows down his subject matter:

Religion has as its basis in the essential difference between man the brute — the brutes have no religion.

But, you may object, do not our pets have a religion, us?

My cat is as loyal to me as any human acolyte was to Ashtaroth or Zeus. My dogs Chauncey and Rimsky died within three months of my leaving home, many, many years ago. Now that's loyalty.

Maybe.

The way to prove a religion among pets would be to remove the pets' owners from the home, and see whether the pets would maintain the old rituals, would pretend that the owners were, in some transcendental sense still there, or about to return.

No other animal than man has set up the worship of beings not himself, on no real prompting. Man is the religious animal, yes. Only man has made himself a pet to masters who do not exist.

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